Improvement in carriages



5 Sheets-Sheet 1.

G. H. 8B E. MORGAN.

Carriage-Top.

Patented Nov. 6, 1866 Ham/07a N-PEIERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAFHER. WASHINGTON, n c.

5 SheetsSheet 2. G. H. &. E. MQRG-AN.

Carriage-Top.

No. 59,525. I Patented Nov. 6, 1866 5 Sheets-Sheet 3.' G. 'H. & E. MORGAN.

Carriage-Top.

No. 59,525 Patented Nov. 6; 1866 I 5- Sheets- Sheet 4. G. H. & E. MORGAN.

Carriage-Top.

Patented Nov. 6, 1866 [mie or N. PETERS, FHOTO-LITHO 5 Sheets-Sheet '5-. G. H. & E. MORGAN Carriage-Top.

Patented Nov. 6, 1866 N-PEI'EHSv PHOTO-LITHOGRAPNER. WASHINGTON D D UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

G. H. MORGAN AND E. MORGAN, OF EDGEWARE ROAD, COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN CARRIAGES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 59,525, dated November 6, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE HENRY MOR- GAN and EDWARD MORGAN, both of Edgeware Road, in the county of Middlesex, England, subjects of the Queen of Great Britain, have invented or discovered new and useful lm-. provements in Carriages; and we, the said GEORGE HENRY MORGAN and EDWARD MOR- GAN, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof-that is to say:

This invention has for its object improvements in carriages.

Heretofore, in constructing carriages with opening and closing heads, it has been usual to place the mechanism by which the head has been retained closed on the outside of the carriage, and to arrange it in such manner as to require to be acted on at each side of the carriage.

Now, the peculiarity of our invention 0011- sists in arranging the apparatus by which the head of a carriage is opened and closed in such manner that the coachman or other person on the drivers seat may, by acting on a lever or suitable instrument, cause the head or the parts of the head of a carriage to open and shut; or, in place of acting on the apparatus in front, it may be arranged to be acted on at the back or other part of a carriage.

For these purposes it is preferred, when the head of a carriage is in two parts-one at the front and the other at the back-that each part should be acted on in the following manner:

The head-joints, in place of being outside of the head, are placed inside, and are hid by the lining. Below the front and back seat, and at each side of the carriage, an axis is applied, upon each of which turns a crank-lever. The upper end of each crank-lever is, by a link or connecting-rod, connected to one of the headjoints in such manner that when the cranklevers are caused to make a partial rotation the connecting-rods attached to the upper ends thereof will be moved up or down, and act on the head-joints, so as simultaneously to close or open the two parts of the head of the can riage. The lower ends of these crank-levers are connected together by connecting-rods and pin-joints, and one end of each of these connecting-rods is attached by pin-joint and connecting-rod to an arm or lever on an axis under the drivers seat, and this axis may be caused to turn partly round by a lever or screw, or other suitable instrument, applied thereto.

When it is desired that one of the two parts of the head of a carriage shall be capable of being opened or closed separate from the other, provision is made for acting on the front and back parts of the head separately. here two head-joints are used on each side of the front or back part of the head of a carriage, then suitable connection is made between such two head-joints and the axis below, that the movement of such axis may act on the two head-joints 011 each side.

If a carriage has only one movable or folding head, then the apparatus above explained will be modified accordingly.

Having thus stated the nature of our said invention, we will proceed to describe the man- .ner of performing the same.

Referring to the drawings, Figures 1 and 2 show two views of so much of the body of a carriage with a folding head as will enable us to describe the manner in which our invention may be practically carried into effect. Figs. 3 and 4 show two views of similar mechanism applied to the head and'body of a carriage, the arrangement of the parts and their forms differing in some details from what are shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Other variations may be made in the details of the apparatus without departing from our invention, the object of which is to combine the instruments or head-joints which retain the head closed when shut with connectingrods or links and levers, in such manner that the whole of the head-joints may be simultaneously acted on; or the parts may be arranged in such manner that the head-joints of the hinder part of the head may be acted on separately from the head-joints of the fore part of the head.

In the arrangement shown the head of the carriage is composed of two parts, the head.- joints of both of which are simultaneously acted on, so as to close or open the two parts of the head at the same time.

In the arrangements shown in the drawings the mechanism isput in motion by the coachman or other person sitting on the drivingseat; but a mechanic will readily vary the mechanical parts so that they may be put in action behind the body or other convenient part of the carriage.

A is so much of the front part of the framing of the fore part of the head, and B is the framing of so much of the rear part of the back of the head, as will enable us to describe the combined mechanism by which the several head-joints,b b, of the head are simultaneously acted on when it is desired to open or close the head.

Fig. 1 shows the parts of -the mechanism in the positions they assume when the head is closed,and Fig.2 shows the parts of the mechanism in the positions they assume when the head is open. The head-joints b b, in place of being outside of the head, are interior thereof, and they are covered and hid by the lining of the head. The mechanism at the one side of a carriage is like that on the other side, so that a description of the parts at one side will apply equally to the parts on the other side of the body of a carriage.

The upper and lower ends of the head-joints I) b are attached by pin-joints c to the body of the carriage, and by pin-joints d to the framing of the head. 0 c are links or connecting-rods, by which the headjoints are connected to the ends of the crank-levers e 0, which turn on axes 0 12 The other ends of the two levers 0 0 at one side of the carriage, are connected together by means of a connecting-rod, f, and the connecting-rods f on the two sides of the body of the carriage are connected or framed together by the transverse bars f l J. On these bars f are projections f f to which the links or connecting-rods are attached by pin-joints. g is a link or connecting-rod. h is an axis or shaft, which is carried by and turns in bearings under the driving-seat. i is an arm fixed or formed 011 the axis h; hence when the axis is turned it will,by means of the link g, cause the mechanism above described to be acted on to open or close the head of the carriage, according to the direction in which the lever-handle j is moved.

Figs. 3 and 4 show the parts of the head in the same positions asin Figs.1 and2; but the forms and arrangement of some of the parts are varied. In the carriage shown by Figs. 3

and 4 the parts f f and g are dispensed with, and the link or connecting-rod g is connected by a pin-joint directly to the lower ends of the cranked levers 0 c and the fore end of the link g is attached to one end of a cranked lever, i, on the axis h, as shown, which axis, in place of being acted on by a hand-lever, is arranged to be acted on by a screw, 70, on which is a screw-nut, l, a stud on which passes through a slot in the end of the cranked lever j on the axis h.

If it be desired that the upper parts of the framing over the doors of the carriage should fold on hinges on the parts. A and B, then the upper limbs of the head-joints b should continue beyond the pin-joints d and form parts of other head-joints, b", the upper parts of the limb of which are fixed, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3, to the parts of the frame over the doors.

Fig. 5 shows a carriage with apparatus applied thereto according to our invention, where a single head only is used. In this arrangement the head-joints are acted on by levers t, which are connected to "the head-joints by'rods c,- and the axis of the levers t, as in Figs. 3 and 4, is put in motion by a screw and screwnut, 70 and Z, acting on an arm or lever, j, fixed to the axis h.

Having thus described the nature of our invention and the manner of performing the same, we would have it understood that we make 'no claim to the mechanical parts separately; but

What we claim is 1. The placing the head-joints b, or their equivalents, inside of the head of a carriage and bid by the lining, substantially as herein shown and described.

2. The employment of mechanism connected to the head-joints b, or their equivalents, of a carriage in such manner that the head of a carriage, whether in one or more parts, may be capable of being raised or lowered by a person on the drivers seat, or other suitable part of a carriage, acting upon a lever or screw, or other equivalent means, in manner substantially as herein shown and described.

' GEORGE HENRY MORGAN.

EDWARD MORGAN. Witnesses:

FREDK. HARRIS, BENJN. I. B. MrLLs. 

